By Olasunkanmi Akoni

The Lagos State Government has expressed determination in actualising and maximizing the potentials of the blue economy on the waterways to boost its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, drive and efficiency of the State Ferry Service LAGFERRY.

State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, stated this at a three-day management retreat of LAGFERRY held at Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of the state at the weekend Lagos.

The retreat themed:“Leveraging Waterways Assets for Improved Revenue Performance,” was attended by staff and stakeholders in the sector.

Osiyemi, was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary, of the ministry, Mr Olawale Musa.

The blue economy, defined as the sustainable use of ocean resources to benefit economies, livelihoods and ocean ecosystem health, with activities commonly understood to represent maritime shipping, fishing and aquaculture and coastal tourism is estimated to be worth more than US$1.5 trillion per year globally.

According to Osiyemi: “The environment, ambience and the efficiency of the boats are critical to driving more traffic to the ferries to increase ridership that will translate to enhanced revenue for the state.

“Passenger experience is very important for people to want to come back to board our boats and so, we need to ensure that everything works for us.

“We can have 17 boats but we need to relate it to how many people ride on the boats, the daily trips.

“We need to adequately utilise the assets we have to generate the revenue needed in the state,” he said.

Osiyemi said that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was integrating all the modes of transportation in the state to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

He noted that the integration would enable government to free up the road to reduce man-hour wasted in traffic.

Osiyemi said that LAGFERRY focus would be to increase its ridership, remove people from the road and drive the traffic down to the boats.

Speaking on the integration of jetties for seamless movement, he said that this required a multi-sectorial approach.

“For instance, the Ministry of Transportation does not construct roads, that task resides with the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.

“All these things cost and it will be a collaboration of all stakeholders to ensure that one can get to the jetties to board the ferry,” he said.

Also speaking, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Taxation and Revenue, Abdulkadir Ogungbo, stressed that globally, capacity building was to entrench processes, service delivery, efficient and qualitative service to members of staff.

Ogungbo noted that after the retreat, it was expected that teem users had a better experience, a world class service with LAGFERRY.

According to him, “We expect our people in the management retreat to put in practice all teachings ranging from encouraging players, managing expectations, putting security first before personal gains.

“We expect them to be more professional and discharge responsibilities that are assigned to them and the first thing is that we will continue to integrate ideas with them.”

He noted that government was aware of LAGFERRY challenges, adding that the communique from the retreat would be presented to the governor for his attention.

Permanent Secretary, Parastatals Monitoring Office, Lagos State, Mrs. Adetutu Ososanya, said the essence of the capacity building was to enhance the performance of the workers of LAGFERRY.

“From the theme’s perspective, how to leverage on revenue performance through our waterways services, this falls under the major pillar of government which have to do with traffic management and transportation.

“Our waterways transportation falls under this and we all know how passionate our governor is about transportation services in Lagos State, to make it seamless.

“In putting all these together, we are looking at how to work and serve customers better, make them feel safe on the waterways.

“Look into our tourism activities and go as far as West African coast. Its all about making things better and enhancing our revenue drive through our waterways services,” she said.

Head of Marine Department, National Inland Waterways Authority, Mrs Elsie Egwuatu, commended LAGFERRY leadership for the retreat, saying,”this is a way of drawing out the positive aspect of the staff.

“Knowledge is inexhaustible and we must imbibe the financial knowledge to move forward.”

Earlier, Managing Director, LAGFERRY,
Mr Abdoulbaq Balogun, said that the agency would continuously evolve in its dynamism for efficient and effective service delivery.

Balogun noted that two days ago, Lagos Revenue Portal was inaugurated, adding that what it connote was that revenue generation had changed as there was no where to hide again.

“We have to block all the loopholes, LAGFERRY is well positioned and we are a revenue generating agency, so we are here for serious business.

“We should know why revenue of LAGFERRY is going down south and we need to make a way.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu has in the last five years shown unwavering commitment and dedication to improving water transportation, as a viable alternative to road transport, through massive investment which has enabled our agency to record unprecedented milestones.

“In the last five years our fleet has increased from just four to 20 state of the arts boats, we have commuted about two million passengers, increase our routes from seven to 25 covering all five divisions in the state.

“Boast of an enviable safety record by adhering to strict safety regulations, ensured that all our passengers are covered by insurance on all trips, constructed an E-fleet surveillance system where all our boats are monitored in real time to guarantee safety.

“Enabling commerce by providing logistics solution to business owners like; Dangote industry, Honeywell, BUA, Flour Mills of Nigeria among others by helping them move their trucks and containers via the waterways.

“Also ensuring the promotion of water tourism through hosting of various events like: birthdays, weddings, musical shows and concerts among others on the waterways.

“As a coastal state in Nigeria, Lagos has the potential to leverage its maritime resources to benefit greatly from the potentials of the blue economy for improve revenue performance and economic growth.

“LAGFERRY is thus poised to play a pivotal role in actualising and maximizing the economic potentials of the Lagos waterways, hence, the rationale for inviting versatile resource persons for this management retreat to explore strategies we can harness to boost our revenue.

“Lagos is strategically poised for the development and efficient use of its water transportation systems.

“This mode of transportation has the potential to contribute significantly to the economic development of Lagos5 State.

“Our waterways hold immense potential for improved revenue performance. By investing in infrastructure, fostering public-private partnerships, and diversifying their use for both transportation and recreation, we can unlock economic growth, stimulate job creation, and promote sustainable practices.

“Let us seize this opportunity and chart a course towards a prosperous and sustainable future for our dear state.”